Squires Hersham and Garsons Esher scoop GCA South Thames awards
Squires Hersham Garden Centre scooped Best Garden Centre and Garsons Esher won Best Destination Garden Centre at the GCA South Thames regional awards held at Collings on Wednesday...
Peter Burks, Chairman of the GCA, said: “We are delighted to have announced our winners for South Thames and would like to congratulate all our members who picked up awards. It is a reflection of all their hard work and dedication to excellence, and they should all be very proud of the achievements.
“The awards included Best Customer Service, Best Garden Products Retailer and Best Creativity and Innovation, all of which were awarded to Garsons Esher. Best Environment and Community went to Thompsons Garden Centre on the Isle of Wight and Newbridge Nurseries in West Sussex was awarded Most Improved.
Above: GCA inspector Liz Huston and GCA South Thames area chairman Julian Winfield with Squires Hersham (left) and Garsons Esher (right).
“Squires Hersham Garden Centre scooped the Best Plant Area award for the Garden Centre category and the winner in the Destination Garden Centre category was Garsons Esher Garden Centre. One of our new awards, the Inspectors Choice, went to the Millbrook Garden Company Ltd for Millbrook Crowborough and Millbrook Gravesend.”
Best Restaurant was awarded to Poundbury Gardens in Dorset in the Garden Centre category and jointly to Chessington Garden Centre in Surrey and Ruxley Manor in Kent in the Destination Garden Centre category.
Garsons Titchfield in Hampshire scooped the Best Indoor Lifestyle award in the Garden Centre category and Ransoms Garden Centre in Jersey were winners in the Destination Garden Centre category. Best Outdoor Living was awarded to Squires Hersham Garden Centre in the Garden Centre category and Polhill Garden Centre in Kent in the Destination Garden Centre category.
The awards are decided by the results of the annual inspections, which take place at all GCA garden centres. Garden centres have no advance warning about when their inspection will take place and they do not have the option to turn away the inspector.
The Best Garden Centre and Best Destination Garden Centre awards went to the members that scored the highest overall mark in the area in their annual inspections.
The three top scoring centres overall, nationally, in both the Destination Garden Centre and Garden Centre categories will be re-inspected before the titles of Garden Centre of the Year and Destination Garden Centre of the Year are announced at the GCA annual conference taking place from January 26 until 29, 2014.
Peter added: “We are looking forward to our forthcoming area awards presentation evenings for the North East, North West and North Thames on July 16, the Midlands on July 17, Wales and the West on July 18 and Scotland on September 9 and to revealing the winners in those areas.”
The full results for the South Thames GCA area awards are as follows for the Garden Centre (GC) category and Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category:
Best Garden Centre: Squires Hersham Garden Centre (GC) and Garsons Esher (DGC) Best Customer Service: Garsons Esher Best Garden Products: Garsons Esher
Best Environment and Community: Thompsons Garden Centre Isle of Wight
Best Creativity and Innovation: Garsons Esher
Most Improved: Newbridge Nurseries
Best Plant Area: Squires Hersham Garden Centre (GC) and Squires Badshot Lea Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Restaurant: Poundbury Gardens (GC) and jointly to Chessington Garden Centre and Ruxley Manor (DGC)
Best Indoor Lifestyle: Garsons Titchfield (GC) and Ransoms Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Outdoor Living: Squires Hersham Garden Centre (GC) and Polhill Garden Centre (DGC)
Inspectors Choice: Millbrook Garden Company Ltd for Millbrook Crowborough and Millbrook Gravesend.
